@mrcauser: "Information on the new timetables can be found through Traveline East
Anglia via
<<url>
Don't bother with the "screen" version of the timetable, it's been
reformatted such that the changes are impossible to follow.  Use the
"PDF print" version, which seems to be directly derived from Stagecoach.
At the top of each page is "This timetable is expected to operate until
at least 24th February 2010."!
These changes are a major disaster for the villages east of Cambridge;
the last bus out of Cambridge is now at 18:35 instead of 23:00, and the
last from Newmarket through the same villages towards Cambridge is 17:17!
Mike
Mike Causer"
    @traven: "<quote>
It is a quandry though. When I observe buses outside Cambridge late in
the evening they are more often than not driving around empty.  So how
do you square it between providing a public transport service but people
rarely using it?
Tony
" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell"
    @quickalan: "<quote>
In rural South Cambridgeshire the last census showed only 11% of the 
households  did not have a car or van. 50% of the households had 2 or 
more vehicles.
Public transport attracts passengers by its convenience and cost 
effectiveness compared to car use. The Park and Ride service meets these 
criteria as do inner city  bus routes
The rural services fail the convenience test and pensioners who could 
use the services free prefer to use the car to go to the park and ride site.
The citi 7 service  for example had a trial with an enhanced frequency 
during the day  (every 10 minutes) that is now to be scaled back to 
every 15 minutes.
The evening and Sunday services were by comparison inadequate and I 
suspect potential passengers of the service are not going to make 
lifestyle changes with memories of past political short term commitment.
I will confess to a having a second car in the household as a result of 
the cutting of a bus service. The bus service has now been restored but 
I will reconsider the cost and convenience of a second car each time I 
need a  new MOT.
Alan Quick"
    @john: "<quote>
I remember reading about some service like this, trialed back in, oh, the
70's, I think. There was a minibus you could phone up. The article I read
this in was taking the piss out of it for the simple reason that it was
trialled in an area that was chosen because it had the highest percentage
of homes with phones. Now this was in the days when phones weren't quite
as ubiquitous as they are now, so this criteria had selected for a fairly
affluent area whose residents as a rule already had their own transport
and so the trial failed because nobody used it.
An on demand bus service sounds like a good idea but how would it be
implemented ? We have some intelligent people hanging around here - anyone
have any ideas ?
 J"
    @jc235: "<quote>
That's quite good for a '7' at that time.
Jane and I walked to Scotsdales from Stapleford one day a couple of 
weeks ago. We saw lots of pensioners waiting for a bus, but never saw a 
bus. I suspect those waiting were not pensioners when they arrived at 
the stop.
  Jim"
    @jss: "<quote>
How about more frequent minibuses? These seem to work very well in the 
Caribbean.
I expect you couldn't use them here because they don't have wheelchair / 
pushchair access however, and pay for drivers must be higher.
Jeremy"
    @traven: "<quote>
On demand service for an infrequently used route?  Isn't that called a taxi?
Tony
" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell"
    @john: "<quote>
Not quite - it would be nice if there was sufficient central co-ordination
to spot that several people wanted to travel in similar directions and
organise that they share a good chunk of the journey. It does depend on
there being sufficient demand but one journey that fulfills the needs of
several passengers or groups of passengers is potentially better than a
journey per passenger or single passenger group. 
It's the missing link:
High demand route - you get a bus.
Very low demand route - a taxi.
Medium to low demand - something else - perhaps a minibus with sufficient
co-ordination to combine journeys.
Is it practical ? Dunno. I'm afraid I'm treating this as a theoretical
problem.
 J"
    @traven: "<quote>
Actually very low demand route - cycle or take the car.  The cycle is
the best option but the car is much better than a taxi.  The taxi will
normally have to make four trips (out and back to collect, out and back
to return) versus two (out then back) for a car.
Tony
" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell"
    @traven: "<quote>
Is that a description or an exhortation?
Tony
" I would never die for my beliefs because I might be wrong."
Bertrand Russell"
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